Letter: A productive meeting with Rep. Joe Kennedy in DC

On Jan. 10, using personal funds, I traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., to discuss federal issues of importance to the city of Fall River, Assonet and the 6th Bristol District, which Rep. Kennedy and I share.

On Jan. 10, using personal funds, I traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., to discuss federal issues of importance to the city of Fall River, Assonet and the 6th Bristol District, which Rep. Kennedy and I share.

Rep. Kennedy and his staff were most gracious, and we had a very productive meeting focused on the following issues: the status of the city of Fall River SAFER Grant for additional funding and the preservation of jobs for Fall River firefighters; the need for additional federal funding for police programs; the future of the Brightman Street Bridge; potential federal transportation funding (estimated at $55 million) for the Route 79 North Project and assistance with Federal Highway for its approval to coincide with the completion of the spaghetti ramp project; potential TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Discretionary Grant funding for the high-speed Fall River-Newport-Block Island ferry component of the City Pier Revitalization; securement of a Federal Trade Zone designation for the city’s Industrial, Commerce, and Life Science parks to reduce the cost of importing raw material used in manufacturing; and identification of federal infrastructure grant funding for Assonet to accommodate further commercial and industrial growth.

While the agenda of issues may seem long and complicated, Rep. Kennedy pledged his support for the initiatives discussed and assigned staff members to work directly with myself and the city to continue to push these issues forward. I also plan to have similar meetings with U.S. Rep. Bill Keating and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and will seek to use every tool at our disposal to methodically address the issues at hand and work collaboratively to successfully resolve them.